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"Homo Heights" and "Divine Trash"
Are Film Fest Hits
By Variety
Contributed by Jodie Miller
Homo Heights
Sydney
April 13, 1998
Camp humor worthy of John Waters meets "Dick Tracy"-style
comic-book direction, peppered with an "Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the
Desert" kind of irreverence in this surreal, soapy and amusingly offbeat
picture.
While its witty narrative clowning creates a few structural problems for
debutante director-scribe Sara Moore, the picture's almost continuous laughs
and many brilliant performances should see "Homo Heights" secure theatrical
release in gay-friendly markets, not to mention a busy schedule of gay fest
dates.
Aged icon and resident gay guru Malcolm (Quentin Crisp) feels like the "Greta
Garbo of Queerdom" and is ready for "a surprise, or to die" rather than remain
a prisoner of the stifling Maria Callous (Stephen Sorrentino), a heavyweight
drag queen and leader of the gay mafia in Homo Heights. Callous controls local
media and bugs entire apartment blocks.
No longer appeased by an ever-increasing array of goods, procured for him by
Callous, that once belonged to the leading ladies of cinema -- Gloria
Swanson's false teeth, Greta Garbo's slipper, Nancy Sinatra's go-go boot
trinkets and Vivien Leigh's pill box ("the only friend she ever had") --
Malcolm turns to his friend Clementine (Lea DeLaria), the lesbian driver of a
lavender taxi, to hatch an escape plan.
With a mixture of panic and fury, Callous decides she needs to get "an icon
for an icon," which she believes will make Malcolm happy once more. In an
amusing consultation among gay ghetto leaders, the icon picked is Carol
Channing (who briefly appears in a witty cameo) after Grace Jones and Hayley
and Juliet Mills are rejected.
Meanwhile, Clementine, who lives a dissolute life of wine, women and song, is
trying to win back the love of her life, Stella (Lynn Sain), who is now with
the alcoholic Blanche (Michelle Hutchison). Cruise (Tim Tucker) impregnates
Stella, while his boyfriend, Tootsie (Grant Richey), an investigative
reporter, risks Callous' wrath by exposing Malcolm's frustrated escape
attempts. Two fantastically trashy drag queens, Paprika (Daniel Alexander
Jones) and Queenie (Emil Herrera), anchor yet another bizarre subplot.
While "Homo Heights" is essentially a love story, or three, it will interest
gay audiences with its affectionate, tongue-in-cheek jab at the sometimes
claustrophobic, often bitchy and frequently dramatic nature of queer culture.
Crisp, the octogenarian activist and author who turned heads in his cameo role
as Queen Elizabeth in "Orlando," does a competent, suitably frail job as the
fading Malcolm. But he is eclipsed by screen newcomer Sorrentino, who plays
Callous with hilarious, show-stealing gusto.
The picture also features a great original score, ranging from whimsically
classical to pumping club numbers.
Divine Trash
Park City, Utah
Part biopic of Baltimore's enfant
terrible/shockmeister John Waters, part chronicle of the making of the
notorious "Pink Flamingos," which catapulted drag queen Divine to the
limelight, "Divine Trash" also manages to survey three decades of non-
mainstream and avant-garde cinema.
Commercially, Steve Yeager's documentary, which won the 1998 Filmmakers Trophy
at Sundance, could get a PR boost from the release of Waters' new comedy,
"Pecker," later this year, but the main audience still rests with his loyal
fans, who might even learn a fact or two about the iconoclastic filmmaker.
A loving grandmother gave Waters his first camera when he was a teenager
growing up in Baltimore. At the age of 12, he began voraciously reading Jonas
Mekas' Village Voice column and Variety. Water's film education consisted of
foreign-language classics, horror flicks, the underground cinema of Andy
Warhol, Kenneth Anger and the Kuchar brothers. He showed early proclivity for
the weird and the macabre, always identifying with the villain rather than the
hero.
The documentary's structure is a bit diffuse: there's no point of view or
analytic center, just a collection of interviews, some more illuminating than
others. Nonetheless, viewers will get a view of Divine's life, along with
useful background about the making of "Pink Flamingos." For Waters, Divine
(Glenn Milstead) was a combo of Jayne Mansfield and Clarabell the clown, "a
lowbrow version of '50s glamour." He perceived Divine as "the Godzilla of drag
queens, a drag terrorist, designed to shock both gays and straights," but
Divine considered himself an actor first and foremost, not a drag queen.
In interviews with helmer Yeager, Waters' and Divine's parents indicate that
they have never seen "Pink Flamingos," and have no intention of doing so. On
the other hand, former Warhol director Paul Morrissey observes that "Pink
Flamingos" "makes jokes out of every societal taboo."
Waters emphasizes that he was not trying to send messages or "say anything,
just give people shock value for their money's worth." By his, and others',
admission, he's a control freak. Waters meticulously rehearsed and shot his
films; contrary to popular notion, he has avoided improvisational methods in
his work. From the beginning, Waters proved a master of marketing, taking
active part in designing posters and promoting "Flamingos," which went on to
become a cult classic and watershed in the history of alternative cinema.
Among the film's most interesting aspects is a consideration of the context in
which Waters worked and flourished. His outrageous films coincided with, and
arguably benefited from, several '70s trends: classic European art films,
porno chic and exploitation fare. Later, a whole generation of filmmakers was
influenced by Waters' sensibility -- Jim Jarmusch, for one, who claims he
learned from Waters' example "that it was OK to make films my own way."
After watching "Divine Trash," Waters' reaction, reflecting his idiosyncratic
humor, was allegedly, "It would be a great film to show at my funeral."
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